Those thinking that neo-liberalism means less government handouts should read George Monbiot's piece in today's Guardian (see here). It seems the Tories' Private Finance Initiative - now championed by this Labour government - isn't so much penny wise, pound foolish as penny wise, millions of pounds foolish. Monbiot's example - where a proposal to refurbish two Coventry hospitals at a cost of £30m was eventually shelved in favour of knocking both down to build one new one at an eventual cost of over 10 times that amount, will result in your and my healthcare being jeopardised so that NHS Trusts can pay back silly sums of money to private investors. This is just one example of where this government stamps on the poor (as seen by Brown's last budget where he gave a small amount with one hand by lowering the basic rate of income tax by a penny, then took more away from most people with the other by abolishing the 10 pence rate) while subsidising the rich.
I should remind myself that in the years to come when people finally wake up to this capitalist nightmare we've found ourselves in I'll be able to wag my finger at people, tell them I told you so and be incredibly irritating about it. As I'll be in full "grumpy old man" phase by then, I suspect I'll be ridiculously smug too.
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